life. faithful.

we're heading into memorial day weekend, the time most people focus on sun and fun--pools open, campgrounds are full, and grills get pulled out and dusted off. saturday, i get to celebrate with my little sister and her fiance as our two families get together for the first time for a wedding shower that will take place in the beauty of the arkansas hills. it will be a day full of joy, laughter, smiles...and lots of food :0) this weekend, americans from florida to maine to alaska to hawaii will all be celebrating life. many families, though, in the midst of the celebration and affirmation of life, will be remembering lives passed.        my family is one of those. it seems like all too often americans forget the reason for this long weekend. we get wrapped up in the start of summer and forget what the holiday is all about: for all of us to celebrate life,  others had to give theirs. for us to have the freedom to live peacefully,  others had to...

while i was cleaning out my desk today (for the last day of school with kids--i still have one day left to be at school and get everything finished...) i stumbled across a verse i copied down some time this year. i wrote down the niv version, but the version i really like is the paraphrase from the message: "w e're depending on God ; He's everything we need. what's more, our hearts brim with joy since we've taken for our own His holy name. love us, God , with all You've got— that's what we're depending on." (psalm 33:20-22) nathan and i have been married for eight years, and we've had a lot of stuff happen to us in those years. i've had times when my mind has wondered if God was really there, taking care of me like He promised. i say my mind wondered because through it all my heart knew the truth. funny how it works that way--your head and your heart don't listen to each other very well sometimes. or at least that's...

so, i meant for this to be posted yesterday...but it was a busy weekend and i didn't get it done. instead, i watched my sister-in-law graduate with honors from high school and my sister graduate with honors from college (so proud of jessie and sarah!) and then spent sunday with family and no computer. well, better late than never. those of you who know me, or have been reading these posts for any length of time, definitely know that that comes pretty close to being my mantra ;0) so, here's my mother's day present to my mom. if you are nosy like me, feel free to read on! ***** dear momma, this is the 27th mother's day i've seen, and i'm finally starting to get it. i'm starting to see all the things you've done for me through the years and the amazing blessing it has been to have such an amazing, godly woman guiding me through this crazy world. i know it hasn't been an easy 27 years--some of those battles through my teen years may have been wo...

so, i've decided that maybe that whole "series" thing isn't for me...seeing as how i didn't manage to keep up with it at all! ...sorry about that... instead, i'm going back to just writing. definitely less stressful on my part, and hopefully more entertaining on your end of things :0) so, with that said... mother's day is sunday. i am by no means an expert on mothering (i'm sure you're surprised that my 5 years haven't made me an expert...ha!) in honor of mother's day i'm writing a couple of letters. this first one is to new moms out there, so if you know any send them my way, okay? also, for all those moms with way more experience than i have, feel free to add to this letter. i would love to hear what you have to say! ******* dear worn out, exhausted, beautiful new mom, you may not believe it, but you really are amazing . really--i mean it! i know how hard it gets, how often you look at that little one and think: i h...

so, saturday morning i went in to pick up one of nathan's medications that had to be refilled. when they rang it up it was $61 instead of the regular $5... uh oh. the note from their system said that we needed a new insurance card. well, with tricare our insurance cards are our military ids. so, i pulled out my id and, of course, it had expired at the end of april. no big deal. school was out early on monday so we made a trip to the national guard armory to get our pictures taken. after an hour and a half drive (luckily it was nap time for both kids), we waited at the armory for an hour and a half...with kids going crazy in the waiting room while both of us slowly (or maybe not so slowly) lost our own sanity trying to keep them reined in. so, 3 hours into our ordeal we got called in. after clicking through the system the sergeant working with us said, "you aren't gonna like this." he went on to tell us that there was some number not in the system, which mean...

"he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the L ORD ." (proverbs 18:22) "a wife of noble character who can find? she is worth far more than rubies. " (proverbs 31:10) noble 1. having eminence, renown, fame, etc; illustrious 2. having or showing high moral qualities or ideals 3. having excellent qualities; superior 4. grand; stately; splendid; magnificent 5. chemically unreactive; precious or pure (actually a chemistry definition, but it still fits) it seems like a lot of people look at one verse to get an idea of what the bible says women are to be: "wives, submit to your husbands as to the L ORD ." (ephesians 5:22) i'm not arguing against this verse in any way, but a discussion on it is for another time. because of this verse, it seems most people get the idea that the women of the bible (and therefore women of God) are weak, docile, and completely domesticated...for lack of a better word. if you were to look at ve...

i now interrupt your regularly scheduled programming...oh wait--i would have to have a regular schedule for that! oh well... seriously, though, i have to jump in the middle of my proverbs 31 series to tell you all my news--       i just accepted a spot in the utoledo physics & astronomy PhD program! i am beyond excited...and scared...and amazed...and terrified...and blessed...      and you could probably add just about anything else in there--i imagine that feeling has gone through my mind as well! (wow, looking back over what i just wrote i see way too many exclamation marks!!!) i'll be working on a PhD in physics, but my emphasis will be in medical physics. if you want an idea of what that means, you can look here or here ...if you still have no idea after reading those, you aren't alone. most people i talk to have to just smile and zone out when i start rambling about all the stuff i find so exciting...and that they find about as dull as...